To Really Know Someone
by Forgotten Conscience
Summary: An impromtu sequel to "That Thing That Happened That Time...". Buffy, Faith, and Satsu deal with the fallout of what's happened between them.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: In the interest of honesty and transparency, I am not making any money off of anything you're about to read, nor do I own any of the characters within. So I'd appreciate not being sued by Joss Whedon or anyone associated with him who owns rights to the characters in his universe. Thanks.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R, since it's going to be getting a little more mature later.

Distribution: I'd appreciate a heads up if you're interested in putting the fic up somewhere for other people's enjoyment. :)

Feedback: = Appreciated

**To Really Know Someone**

Chapter 1

Drip.

The sound is hollow as it echoes through the cave.

Drip. Drip.

But even as hollow as it is, it's enough to wake her from her sleep with the hazy pain that follows it.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Her eyes open to the near pitch black darkness of her surroundings and the shadows of the flickering lights don't do much to help her blurry vision despite her slayer senses when she tries to focus. Figures seem to form in the shadows and as they group together she starts to remember what lead her to where she is.

* * *

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Buffy stands in the doorway of the Scottish Castle's Medical Wing, leaning against the frame and completely uncertain of what to do.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

She stares into the large room at the only recent victim to be admitted to the place in the last thirty days.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

But the question on Buffy's mind isn't who the victim is, or who it was that dug the knife into the victim's stomach. It's a much more important question that needs answering.

"You know..."

Buffy turns her head to see Xander standing next to her suddenly.

"Maybe it's different here in Scotland, but I'm fairly certain that back in the U.S. of A where you were born, it was customary when visiting a hospital patient to actually go inside and visit with them."

Buffy goes back to staring into the room.

"But then maybe the Scots have some weird ritual involving haggis."

"I'm just not sure it's such a good idea for me to go in there."

"Because the haggis hasn't arrived yet?"

Buffy smiles at the ridiculous question.

"No... because every time Faith and I seem to get within arms length of each other, one of us ends up instigating violence."

Xander leans against the opposite side of the doorway's frame to face Buffy.

"And one of you tends to end up with violence related injuries. Yeah I sorta noticed that over the years. It certainly sucks, especially with the most recent developments in the Buffy/Faith relationship."

The slayer stares at her darker twin intently, ignoring Xander's insinuation.

"Who knows, maybe the whole lip service thing could explain your lack of friendly relations over those same years."

That makes Buffy move slightly in Xander's direction to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"The constant need for knives and feet that you guys have for each other, maybe you're finally hitting on the source of it all."

Buffy shrugs at Xander.

"Faith and I already sorta had that conversation back in Sunnydale. We're way too complicated for that kind of explanation. That would be simple and obvious."

"And yet you felt the need to declare your undying love in a tense moment with half a dozen witnesses."

"Undying love is easy to promise when the one listening is bleeding to death."

"Almost death."

"Reality always tends to set in afterwards."

Xander readjusts his eye-patch in front of Buffy.

"Which is?"

The blonde slayer turns back towards staring at Faith.

"You remember the conversation I had you and Will arrange between me, her and..."

She stops short of actually saying the third participant's name.

"What about it?"

"I put a lot of thought into that conversation before having it. And despite everything that's happened, circumstances between me and Faith are still pretty much the same. There's too much history between us, too much bad blood for us to have anything honest or long term even if that's what we both wanted. And it could take us the rest of our probably very short lives to work out all our issues to a point where we could."

"And that's assuming both of you could be honest enough to actually talk between each apocalypse."

"With our history, I'm guessing the odds are against us."

"Probably a safe bet."

Xander shifts his weight against the doorframe.

"Still, there's something to be said for undying love."

Buffy takes a deep breath while staring at Faith lying motionless in her recovery bed.

"I'm not in love with Faith, Xander."

"Really? Because I thought there was pretty compelling evidence to the contrary."

She brings her eye line back to Xander's, taking another long and deep breath.

"I would've said anything to keep Faith alive long enough for her to live through this."

"And the idea that you were in love with her is the first thing that came to mind? You thought she'd keep fighting to stay alive if she thought she had a chance with you?"

"Pretty much."

Xander pauses for a moment at what Buffy just said.

"But you're sure she doesn't?"

It's Buffy's turn to pause for a moment.

"Yes."

The continuous moments of pausing continues with Xander.

"So what happens if she wakes up and wants to make her extended stop-over in the most Scottish country on Earth into a permanent move so you can be together?"

All Buffy does is shrug at Xander.

"Assuming she even heard me during her near death experience?"

They both take a moment for quiet reflection.

"Do you think she'd go evil again if I had her sedated and transferred back to Cleveland?"

Xander smiles at Buffy, knowing she was only partly joking.

"Depends on if she heard you or not. And if she cares."

Buffy goes back to staring at Faith, about 10 feet inside the Med Wing's recovery room.

"Any guesses on which I'm in for?"

This time it's Xander who looks at Faith so they're both staring at her.

"Despite all our history, I can't say I ever really understood Faith or the kinds of decisions she tends to make. All I can say is we'll have to wait and see."

Buffy sighs heavily and reaches a hand up to run her fingers through her hair.

"Great."

"So where does that leave things with you?"

"With Satsu..."

Xander raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"I think maybe I missed a step there."

Buffy pushes herself upright and starts walking away from the door she'd been standing in for the past 30 minutes. Xander follows her.

"She tried to kill someone. I wouldn't let Faith get away with it, and I won't let Satsu get away with it. We have to find her."

They both walk down the hallway of the Scottish castle together.

"Which is where the downside of training a bunch of girls with superpowers everything you know about hunting, if any of them goes AWOL they tend to know exactly how not to get hunted."

"Then we'll just have to find a new way to track her down."

Buffy and Xander leave the Medical Wing.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: In the interest of honesty and transparency, I am not making any money off of anything you're about to read, nor do I own any of the characters within. So I'd appreciate not being sued by Joss Whedon or anyone associated with him who owns rights to the characters in his universe. Thanks.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R, since it's going to be getting a little more mature later.

Distribution: I'd appreciate a heads up if you're interested in putting the fic up somewhere for other people's enjoyment. :)

Feedback: = Appreciated

**To Really Know Someone**

Chapter 2

She starts to shift in the spot she woke up in, the cold dampness of her surroundings becoming more obvious the more she moves. Suddenly, something rattles and a weight on her arms seems to shift when she lifts them. Looking down at her hands, the feeling of the shackles fastened tightly around her wrists registers in her head.

"What the...?"

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

"We're coming up empty Buff."

The three main screens of the Slayer Command Centre show various live feeds from slayers in the field, the main factors in the search.

"We've been all over the five hundred mile radius that a slayer can travel in the time she had to escape and we're coming up empty."

Buffy stares intently from one screen to another in search of some sign of their target.

"She can't have dropped off the face of the Earth. There has to be some trace of her somewhere."

Xander readjusts his weight on the stone floor.

"Too many traces actually. That's what's making her difficult to track."

"What do you mean?"

"In the last 24 hours, she's hit up every major hiding place in the area that we set up since coming here. Including a few of the former ones we've abandoned and the secret ones we set up for you in case of a slayer apocalypse of some kind. Each time she takes some supply but leaves the rest of them behind. I'd say by now that she has enough to last her about five weeks, maybe more. But Willow and the other witch-folk are having a hard time pinning down where she might be stashing it all."

"Well, at least we know the confusion spells we set up to hide them from magic detection are working."

"Willow's working on bringing the spells down but they were set up to work independently, so she has to do them one by one. It'll take some time."

"Time we don't have."

"Pretty safe assumption, yeah, what I'm not getting is why she's planning on sticking around for that long. Seems like the best thing for her to do is to get out of Scottish Dodge as quickly as possible, I would."

Buffy pulls herself away from staring at the screens to look at a map of their property, highlighting all the hideouts in the area.

"She's not leaving, not while she still has unfinished business here."

"What kind of unfinished business?"

"Me..."

Xander comes up beside Buffy to survey the map with her.

"You? I would've thought she'd be fairly certain the Buffy ship had sailed, what with the stabbing of other slayers and all."

"If attempted murder had stopped most of the people I'd slept with from thinking they'd had a shot with me, I never would've lost my virginity."

"And a celibate Buffy is a cranky Buffy. Okay, so what's the plan forming in that blonde head of yours?"

Buffy steps back from the map for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"She wants me so bad. I'll have to give myself to her."

Xander watches his best friend for a moment.

"You mean that figuratively right?"

"It's the only way Xander. Satsu's too smart to let anyone catch her. She knows our procedures too well. She knows me too well."

"So how is that going to help us find her if she knows us too well to be tricked into getting caught?"

"Because no matter how hard she tries, no matter how smart she is, she can't fight how she feels."

It's silent for a moment as neither of the life long friends says anything.

"No one can."

There's a pause to the conversation before Xander goes into commander mode.

"All right, I'll have Willow and the magic brigades get to work on a tracking system that will cut through any cloaking spells that might be out there. We need to make sure we can find you if..."

"No."

"Buff?"

"I have to go in clean on this. Satsu's going to be paranoid out of her mind thinking we're going to track her down and lock her up. The only way I'm going to get her to trust me is if she knows that it's just me and her in the conversation."

"And you don't think that putting yourself out there for a potentially violent and paranoid slayer who is strong enough to kill you without backup is a little bit risky?"

"It usually is."

Buffy takes a deep breath.

"But this is whole situation is my fault. And the sooner she hears that from me, the sooner all this will be over."

Xander steps up to Buffy and they face each other.

"Hey, this isn't your fault Buff. Satsu made her own choices too. She didn't have to do the things she did. She didn't have to stab Faith and run off like that."

"No, but I didn't have to sleep with her and make her think that we had something together, then go and kiss Faith right in front of her either."

"Touché..."

"I think I know the best place to start too."

"And this whole 'putting yourself in harm's way to save a wayward slayer' wouldn't have anything to do with your need to alleviate your guilt in the situation while simultaneously avoiding the possibility that Faith will wake up and want to have a long conversation with you about certain declarations?"

There's a pause before Buffy says anything and she turns away.

"Of course not..."

"Right..."

The blonde slayer puts some distance between herself and Xander.

"Look, at the very least. Faith and I are the way we are because in all the years we've been fighting neither of us has ever been willing to take responsibility for what we were doing to each other. We still haven't to this day. I don't want me and Satsu to end up as Buffy/Faith 2.0. I owe her better than that."

"So what do you need the team to do if we're going to help with Operation Chance in a Hellmouth?"

Buffy goes back to the map, pointing to a particular spot.

"Give me a lot of space around this cemetery here and wait to hear from me. Don't try and keep track of me and don't let any of the other slayers go after Satsu if they have an opportunity. No matter what happens. This has to be just me and Satsu or I'll never get anywhere with her."

Xander watches Buffy's expression for a while before responding.

"Okay boss lady. I'll do my best to be your Titanic."

Buffy smiles slightly at her friend.

"Thanks Xander..."

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: In the interest of honesty and transparency, I am not making any money off of anything you're about to read, nor do I own any of the characters within. So I'd appreciate not being sued by Joss Whedon or anyone associated with him who owns rights to the characters in his universe. Thanks.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R, since it's going to be getting a little more mature later.

Distribution: I'd appreciate a heads up if you're interested in putting the fic up somewhere for other people's enjoyment. :)

Feedback: = Appreciated

**To Really Know Someone**

Chapter 3

Drip.

The sound is hollow as it echoes through the cave.

Drip. Drip.

But even as hollow as it is, it's enough to wake her from her sleep with the hazy pain that follows it.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Her eyes open to the near pitch black darkness of her surroundings and the shadows of the flickering lights don't do much to help her blurry vision despite her slayer senses when she tries to focus. Figures seem to form in the shadows and as they group together she starts to remember what lead her to where she is.

She starts to shift in the spot she woke up in, the cold dampness of her surroundings becoming more obvious the more she moves. Suddenly, something rattles and a weight on her arms seems to shift when she lifts them. Looking down at her hands, the feeling of the shackles fastened tightly around her wrists registers in her head.

"What the...?"

"I'm sorry..."

Buffy looks up from her wrists to see Satsu crouched over a fire not too far from her, trying to keep it going.

"I... I didn't mean to... I didn't want to have to do that to you. But I... I-I wasn't really sure how you'd react when you woke up. I couldn't take the chance."

The blonde slayer brings her vision back to her wrists.

"Well, considering some of the decisions I've made lately, that may have been a good idea."

She reaches up to the back of her head and feels the lump there that's stinging from where she was hit earlier.

"Though I could've gone without the tumor forming on the back of my head as a warning..."

Satsu watches Buffy for a moment.

"I-I... I'm sorry. I didn't want to do that to you, but I wasn't sure that you'd come with me willingly. Not after what I'd done."

The chained slayer watches Satsu intently as she tries to determine exactly how close to the edge the younger slayer has gotten.

"And what exactly did you do?"

"You, you saw... you know... you were there. I... I stabbed her. I... I stabbed Faith, right in front of you. You..."

Satsu's hands get shaky and she looks down at them with fear in her eyes. It's dark, but Buffy can just barely make out the dried blood stains that Satsu is staring at on them.

"You saw... I-I... I killed someone."

"Sat..."

"I killed her. I stabbed Faith and I killed her. I... I know how you feel about people like that. People... like us, people who kill people. I know what happens to them and how you deal with them. You told me about you and Faith. I..."

The young slayer crawls across the cold, hard stone ground of the cave the slayers are in to get up close to Buffy. She rattles her chains as she backs up against the wall a bit at the speed that Satsu crawls.

"I'm sorry... I-I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it... I didn't mean to kill her. I...just reacted. I don't even know why. She... I went to talk to her. To... confront her about you and everything that happened when..."

"Why?"

"B-because... I... I needed to understand. I had to figure out... why... why all this had happened. Why she did what she did. What she was thinking and feeling about everything that happened. And what she was feeling about..."

Satsu brings her eyesight up to Buffy's and their eyes meet for the first time in what feels like a long time.

"And what she said gave you the uncontrollable urge to stab her in the stomach?"

Their eye line breaks again as Satsu looks down shamefully at the stone floor.

"I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry."

Satsu has a sudden urge to throw herself at Buffy, her arms wrapping themselves around Buffy's stomach to hug her. The tears finally start to pour out of her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't..."

Slowly and cautiously, Buffy starts to put her arms around Satsu in a vain attempt to comfort the hysterical girl.

"I know..."

"I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to kill her. I'm sorry."

There's a long moment of silence where all that can be heard in the cave is sobbing and the faint echo of sobbing against the walls of the cave.

"Satsu... Faith's not dead."

That makes Satsu let go of Buffy and pull away to bring their sight together again.

"What?"

"She survived. Just barely, but she's alive and recovering. She may even be awake right now back at the castle."

"But... but I..."

"You didn't kill anyone Satsu. You made a really stupid and irresponsible decision in the heat of the moment that you really shouldn't have. A decision you're going to have to pay for. But you didn't kill anyone."

"I... we... she's... she's alive?"

Buffy reaches out to touch the side of Satsu's face.

"Yes. She's gonna be okay. And if we end this here... you can be okay too."

Satsu leans forward into Buffy with a gentleness that hasn't been felt between them in a while and she leans in to kiss the older slayer. Quickly, Buffy tries to keep some distance between them, her hands pressing against Satsu's shoulders.

"Satsu, stop..."

They both get some distance from each other as Satsu backs off.

"But..."

She looks uncomfortable and confused at the chained older woman.

"But, I thought you came... to... I thought you cared about me. That's... that's why you were here. You came because you cared about me. Because you wanted to..."

"Satsu, listen to me."

Buffy moves a little closer to her Asian companion.

"I do care about you. I care about you a lot. And that, more than anything, is why we can't be anything more than friends. Because I want you to be happy..."

There's a long pause in Buffy before she continues.

"Satsu... look at yourself."

There's another shorter pause that stretches out between them.

"Look at what everything that's happened between us has done to you. Can you honestly tell me that this has made you anything close to happy?"

After a brief moment of reflection, Satsu seems to sit defeated on the hard floor of the cave.

"I want you to be happy Satsu."

Buffy moves a little closer to Satsu.

"Stop this before it goes further then it has to and maybe we can find a way to make sure that happens."

They stare at each other for what seems like forever in silence, but eventually Satsu moves to unlock the shackles fastened around Buffy's wrists.

"I'm sorry..."

The chains come unlocked and Buffy rubs her wrists where the heavy metal used to be.

"I know..."

Buffy slowly stands up and so does Satsu. The younger slayer steps into Buffy, hugging her tightly and Buffy hugs her back just as tightly. Eventually, Buffy puts her arms around Satsu's shoulders and starts leading her towards the entrance of the cave. As they move out of the cave and into the light of the sun, they both feel the warm feeling of the morning sun which seems to almost heal them instantly of everything. As if they were leaving everything bad between them back there in the cave.

"It's going to be okay."

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: In the interest of honesty and transparency, I am not making any money off of anything you're about to read, nor do I own any of the characters within. So I'd appreciate not being sued by Joss Whedon or anyone associated with him who owns rights to the characters in his universe. Thanks.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R, since it's going to be getting a little more mature later.

Distribution: I'd appreciate a heads up if you're interested in putting the fic up somewhere for other people's enjoyment. :)

Feedback: = Appreciated

**To Really Know Someone**

Chapter 4

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of the heart rate monitor seems to echo through the room, despite the lack of empty space for the sound to travel and the walls to bounce off of.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

But it's the one hooked up to the heart rate monitor that has the attention of the young blonde slayer sitting patiently beside it.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

If only the conversation that Buffy knew was coming could be as simple, constant, and reassuring as the repeated beep coming from the machine.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"I'm really getting sick of that sound."

Buffy looks up from her semi-repetitive vigil at Faith's beside to see the brunette staring back at her.

"I mean, I know it's keeping me alive and everything, but after waking up to it three or four times, you kinda start to wish that they could hook up to an iPod and make it sound a little more lively."

There's a smile from Buffy at Faith's comment.

"Well there you go. If you ever feel like a career change, you could make a lot of money selling that idea to hospitals."

Faith smiles back at Buffy for a moment.

"Yeah, but I don't think I could ever give up the slaying gig. It's way too much fun."

She lifts her hands up off the bed and runs it down her body, stopping at the bandage covering her most recent wound.

"Could do without the stab wounds though, it's not exactly the best feeling to get used to. It leads to a lot of scratching."

Buffy's eyes lower at the thought of the scars on Faith's stomach.

"You're probably best to stay away from me then. They tend to happen when I'm around."

Faith sits herself up on the bed and shrugs.

"Hey, it helps with the whole sexy badass image. It's good to have something to show the guys... or the girls."

That comment makes Buffy shift uncomfortably in her seat next to her wounded companion.

"Right... about that..."

A silence falls between the two of them and again the only thing to be heard in the room is the sound of the heart monitor beeping.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Is there word on Satsu? It's a little fuzzy, but I think I remember hearing her leave during the whole commotion that caused this."

"Well, your hearing seems like it was okay then, because she did. Gave us a real run for our money too, but I managed to track her down. She's... she's back with us. Staying with us so that she can get some help..."

There's a few moments where Buffy pauses, hoping to gauge Faith's mostly unreadable response to the Satsu news.

"Is that... you know... okay?"

"You mean because I have a history of going psycho on people who stab me?"

Buffy doesn't respond right away.

"Mostly... yeah..."

"One of the things I've learned over the years B is that history is best left in the past. I'm over my whole 'need for revenge' phase. You don't have to worry about me and Satsu exchanging fists or other sharp objects. Besides, I kinda gave her a good reason to do it. But then, I have a habit of that too."

"Speaking of which... Satsu isn't all that talkative at the moment. She's doing pretty well but she's still kinda out of it. She doesn't like to talk about what happened. So I'm hoping maybe you might be willing to... you know, fill in some of the details about what happened."

This time it's Faith who doesn't respond right away.

"Not much to say really. Stabbings are kinda straight forward that way. Either you get stabbed or you don't."

Again there's a pause in the conversation.

"I got stabbed."

Buffy watches Faith for a moment.

"Okay... I got most of that from when I showed up and you were bleeding. It's the why and the how that I'm a little fuzzy on."

"Like I said... I kinda gave her a reason."

The blonde slayer sits back in her chair.

"And if she'd hit you over the head with a steel pipe or something, I might be willing to leave things at that. But she stabbed you. She stuck a knife in your stomach and almost made you bleed to death."

Faith stares at Buffy for a moment.

"So did you."

Buffy crosses her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, but I had a good reason. You were trying to help a psychotic politician eat the town."

"And Satsu had just as good a reason, except I'm not evil in this scenario, thankfully."

"But neither is Satsu. She's a good person. Just a little messed up at the moment, which brings us back to the most obvious question that I'm having trouble getting an answer for."

Faith shifts her weight uncomfortably in her hospital bed.

"B... this isn't really something I'm up to talking about right now. I'm still kinda tired from the whole 'almost dying' thing. I'd appreciate it if we could pick this up another time."

Buffy stares at Faith for a while.

"Right, because not talking about things has worked so well for us in the past."

This time it's Faith who turns her head to look at Buffy, giving her a slightly pleading stare as the seconds seem to stretch on between them. Eventually, Buffy takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh of resignation. She gets up from her seat next to Faith.

"Okay... if you're really that tired, I guess we could pick this conversation up later some time."

"Yeah, sure B. No problem. We can talk about this later. Some time when I'm feeling a little more alive."

The blonde slayer continues to back up out of Faith's hospital room in the Scottish Castle's Medical Wing.

"All right, we'll talk soon."

"Bet on it B..."

Buffy turns around and walks out the door.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: In the interest of honesty and transparency, I am not making any money off of anything you're about to read, nor do I own any of the characters within. So I'd appreciate not being sued by Joss Whedon or anyone associated with him who owns rights to the characters in his universe. Thanks.

Rating: I'm gonna go with R, since it's going to be getting a little more mature later.

Distribution: I'd appreciate a heads up if you're interested in putting the fic up somewhere for other people's enjoyment. :)

Feedback: = Appreciated

**To Really Know Someone**

Chapter 5

The punching bag jerks backwards as her fist strikes the soft padding repeatedly with a combination of lefts and rights. She's worked up quite a sweat over the past twenty minutes of her work out, almost as if she were working out some personal issues on the leather bag. After six or seven different quick jabs to the punching bag, she spins on her heels and hits the bag with a back fist before spinning back to her regular position and hitting the bag with a couple more jabs.

Eventually, the slayer slows down the punches to the bag and then steps away from it. She takes a deep breath and stretches out the tense muscles in her shoulders and lower back.

"Seems like you're feeling better..."

Faith turns around to see Satsu standing just inside the doorway to the training room they're both suddenly in. For a while, Faith just stands there and watches the younger slayer. Satsu throws up her hands like she's surrendering.

"Don't worry, I've been knife free for going on three days now. I'm not about to jeopardize my recovery by going around stabbing people again, least of all you."

Faith watches her for another moment to make sure she's being honest.

"Good to know."

That makes Satsu move a little further into the training room and Faith goes back to looking at the punching bag. She relaxes her fingers a little from the impact of her knuckles on the bag.

"So are you actually feeling better or is this one of those 'push through the pain' slayer things that Buffy's always talking about?"

Faith cocks her head from side to side a couple of times to work out the tension in her neck.

"Nice thing about being a slayer, the more damage you take, the easier it is to recover from things the next time."

The place is silent for a moment.

"Guess I haven't learned that lesson yet."

"Well I'm not exactly one of the teachers but I'm glad I could help."

Faith reaches out and tries to hold the bag still from the swaying it's been doing since the last punch she threw at it.

"Listen, Faith..."

There's a pause from Satsu for a moment and that makes Faith turn to look at her again.

"I just... you know... wanted to say I'm sorry about the whole... you know... stabbing you thing. I..."

Faith holds up one of her wrap taped hands to stop Satsu.

"It's okay. I get it."

"You do?"

The older slayer shrugs.

"If anyone gets the whole impulse control issues, it's me. I'm the queen of bad decisions in the heat of the moment."

Satsu stares at her older companion.

"A real believer in impulse thinking..."

Faith half grins at her apparent newest friend.

"Something like that."

"Still, most people don't have stabbing impulses, and they don't act on them."

"You really are new to the whole slayer thing aren't you?"

Silence follows Faith's semi-rhetorical question.

"Look, Faith, about what happened..."

"It's cool. If I'd been in your shoes, I probably would've done the same. Though I'd like to think I've managed to put together a little bit of restraint over the years."

Neither of them says anything for a second.

"To be honest, I probably shouldn't have said what I said. Especially with the way you were freaked out and angry."

Satsu watches Faith for a second.

"Probably, but still... I'm sorry."

This time it's Faith who doesn't say anything right way.

"I appreciate it. I'm sorry too. But I'll tell ya what. Let's just call it all even and go from there."

Faith takes a couple steps towards Satsu and holds out her hand to shake. After a few seconds, Satsu does the same, shaking Faith's hand in friendship. The two slayers smile a little at each other before Satsu speaks up.

"I'm okay with that, as long as we can leave all the Buffy stuff behind us."

They eventually let go of each other's hands.

"Deal..."

"Hey, Faith...?"

Both slayers turn around at the sound of a third voice they're both really familiar with coming through the door.

"Hey B, how's it going?"

Buffy gets a confused look on her face at the sight before her.

"Uh... hey?"

Her confusion turns to fear at the thought of two people she knows rather intimately standing in a room together after all that's happened. She looks towards the wall of weapons hanging not far from the three of them, quickly moving between them and the two slayers.

"Everything okay...?"

Faith smiles a little at Buffy's tense position.

"Five by five Buff. The Sushi lady and I were just talking."

Satsu glances over at Faith.

"Sushi lady?"

The dark slayer grins at Satsu.

"I have a thing about nicknames. Don't take it personally."

Satsu raises an eyebrow at the older slayer.

"Okay..."

Buffy looks over at Satsu for confirmation.

"Satsu?"

"It's just like Faith said, we were talking."

"About what?"

The grin on Faith's face doesn't go away.

"About you, mostly..."

Buffy's fear turns back to confusion.

"Me?"

"Yeah I was just curious how good you were in bed and Satsu was filling me in on all the details."

"What?"

Both Faith and Satsu smile at each other from the sudden moment of panic that washes over Buffy's face. It's Satsu that speaks up first.

"She's kidding Buffy. I came in here to clear the air with Faith."

"Yeah B, we did the whole girl talk slayer bonding thing and now we're the best of bosom buddies, except without the sharing of bosoms... right Satsu?"

Satsu looks at Faith for a moment with a bit of the smile for earlier.

"Right..."

Buffy remains mostly silent and confused with her stance being very defensive between the weapons and the two brunette slayers standing not far from her, uncertain of what to do.

"You can stop guarding the weapons any time you'd like B. Everything's okay and it's gonna stay that way for the moment."

After a few more moments of uncertainty, Buffy relaxes her stance and sort of steps away from the weapons wall a bit.

"Oh... well, okay... that's, you know, good."

There's a slightly uncomfortable silence between the three slayers in the room for what seems to stretch out for a few minutes but is actually closer to one. Satsu decides she's the best one to break the silence.

"So, Faith... what are you gonna do now?"

Faith looks at the younger slayer with a curious look.

"Do?"

"Yeah, are you gonna stick around and enjoy all the excitement of Twilight or are you going back to Cleveland?"

"Uh, right..."

She turns her attention towards Buffy.

"I don't really know. I haven't really had any time to think it over. Guess that's one of the things that me and B are gonna have to talk about."

That becomes Buffy's queue to jump into the conversation.

"Yeah, uh, that's actually one of the reasons I came looking for you. We kinda need to have that talk."

Faith shifts her weight a little at the prospect of talking to Buffy alone.

"Right, yeah... uh, Satsu, do you mind?"

Satsu and Faith look at each other. It takes Satsu a second to figure out what it is that Faith is asking.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure..."

She starts heading towards the door.

"I'll just, you know, go get an update from Xander on tactical."

Buffy smiles at Satsu as the young girl gets to the doorway.

"Thanks..."

Satsu sort've avoids smiling back at Buffy.

"No problem."

Then finally Buffy and Faith are standing alone in the training room as Satsu starts walking down the hallway. The two remaining slayers stand uncomfortably silent together for a while. Eventually, Buffy speaks up.

"So... seems like you're feeling better."

Faith stretches herself out a little in front of Buffy.

"Yeah, I'm thinking I'll be back up to a hundred percent by the end of the week."

"That's good. I'm, I'm glad."

"Me too. I really don't like having to sit around and do nothing when I don't have to."

"You never were good at staying in one place."

"The only question is, what am I gonna do with myself when I'm fully up and running again. It's not like the whole middle of nowhere castle gives me a lot of options."

"Well, if you want I could have the Wicca's whip you up something with a little more power then a punching bag."

"Hmm, that'd be good. I could really use something that would fight back. Something tells me that Twilight's gonna fight back."

"Yeah he kinda does. But..."

"But what?"

Buffy shifts her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably and takes a deep breath.

"Well, that kinda implies you're sticking around."

Faith pauses for a second.

"I guess it kinda does. Which I could do, you know, assuming I'm welcome. I mean, you invited me here on account of you needed help with Twilight. And so far I haven't gotten a chance to put my fists to him. But if you'd rather I skip out on the ultimate Scottsdale, then I can get Giles to book me out on the first flight back to Cleveland."

"Uh, no... I mean, you don't have to do that. Not if you don't want to. You're uh, you're welcome to stay for as long as you're willing to help. It'd be nice to have someone around who's actually got some serious battle experience under her belt."

"Then I'm yours for the asking."

Suddenly the room goes silent despite the two people standing in it who are more than capable of carrying on with the conversation.

"Which is probably not the best way to say what I was trying to say... cause you know, I'm hanging around for the fight, not for anything else."

"Right... which is good, because you know, that was the reason I wanted you to stay."

It's Faith's turn to give Buffy a bit of a confused look.

"Really?"

"Of course... why?"

"Cause, Sushi girl's exit wasn't the only thing I heard while bleeding to death. Your voice was kinda hard to ignore in all the shock and panic and near-death experiences."

Buffy runs a hand through her hair and shifts her weight uncomfortably at what Faith just said.

"Oh..."

She takes a deep breath without responding.

"A couple words kinda stuck out."

This time Buffy doesn't respond right away.

"Right, that..."

"I mean I get it. I'm beautiful, sexy, got the stamina of at least three racehorses... and with your recent attempt at enjoying the other fifty percent of the population it kinda makes sense that you'd wanna take a shot at the best of the best."

Buffy raises an eyebrow at Faith.

"Ego much?"

Faith shrugs back with a bit of a grin.

"It is what it is yo. But B, I ain't really into you in that way."

Buffy scratches her head at Faith's words.

"Uh, Faith..."

"Not that the thought of getting into your pants didn't occur to me once or twice, or twenty times in the two and half years I was locked up in prison with a whole mess of women who were too into each other for their own good but... it's like I said before, I don't really swing that way."

The blonde slayer rolls her eyes at Faith.

"Don't make me hit you Faith."

They look at each other for a moment.

"Well, at least it'd be a step down from being stabbed with a knife. I kinda wish Satsu had thought of that prior to the stabbing."

"Right, what exactly did you say to her that got her in that kind of mood?"

Again Faith shrugs.

"Mostly what I'm saying to you now. Seems she kinda got it into her head that I'd gone and ruined her shot with you on account of getting you to fall in love with me so that we could be together. She wasn't too happy to find out that I didn't even really wanna be with you. Guess it kinda put her in a stabbing mood."

"Faith, I'm not in love with you."

That comment makes Faith give Buffy a curious look.

"Come on B, you can't go denying things now. You said it, I heard it. I just wanna make sure that you know that it ain't gonna happen so you can get over me already."

"Yeah, I know I said it but... Faith..."

Buffy takes a moment to compose herself with a deep breath and faces Faith.

"You remember what you were saying about the whole shock and panic thing?"

"I only said it a couple seconds ago, so yeah."

"Well you weren't the only one having a shock and panic moment. You were just the only one having the near-death experience. I kinda panicked too in all the lack of excitement."

She pauses for a moment before continuing.

"I was freaked out and desperate for something to say that would make you keep fighting to live."

"And the first thing that popped into your head was you were in love with me?"

Buffy looks at Faith and shrugs.

"Pretty much..."

"But you're not?"

"Not really, no..."

They both get silent.

"All right, good... that'll make talking to you and spending time together a lot less awkward."

Buffy smiles.

"I would think so."

After a minute or two, Faith walks up to Buffy and puts her arms around the shorter girl's shoulders.

"Who knows, you and me might get to know each other and actually manage to become friends."

Buffy starts heading towards the door with Faith's arm still around her shoulder.

"You and me? Friends?"

Faith punches Buffy in the arm playfully.

"Hey, stranger things have happened."

"No they haven't."

They both laugh at Buffy's joke as they make it to the doorway of the training room out into the rest of the castle.

"So exactly what was it about prison that had you thinking of me naked?"

This time Buffy just smiles as Faith laughs again.

"Well..."

**The End**


End file.
